Online Safety at West Witney Primary School – Working with the School Community

Whilst we all accept that the internet opens up a whole world of exciting possibilities where children can play, learn, create and connect, it is not without its dangers. (For this reason parents, carers and children are required to sign the school’s acceptable use form when they join the school.)

At West Witney Primary School we aim to work with the whole school community to make sure that our children stay safe in an ever-changing digital world. To help you understand a little more about Online Safety, can you answer the following questions?

Do you know how much time your child spends online?

On average most children with access to the Internet can spend as much as two to three hours online per day, what else could they be doing?

Have you got parental controls in place?

Parental controls are an important way to keep your child safe online. They can be used to block upsetting or harmful content, control in-app purchases or manage how long your child spends online; the good news is parental controls are really easy to set up. Call on 0808 800 5002 to chat to one of the expert NSPCC and O2 advisors if you need further information or see O2’s trained staff at high street O2 stores to go through devices and change the settings if necessary.

Do you know if your child has online friends?

More than a third of the children in a recent survey (2016) had added a stranger to their contacts in the past six months, and quarter said they were likely or very likely to add someone they didn’t know in the future.

Does your child have access to social media such as Instagram or Facebook?

In the National Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children’s latest Net Aware survey, two thirds of children admitted to using apps while under the age limit. Popular sites such as YouTube, Facebook, SnapChat, Instagram, Twitter, and WhatsApp all have a minimum age of 13. The survey of more than 1,600 children and young people in schools across the UK found that a third had seen violence and hatred online, a fifth had seen sexual content and bullying. In every category, live-streaming sites were the worst offenders, with content relating to suicide and self-harm, bullying and violence reported by 18%, 31% and 46% of reviewers respectively.

Are you worried about online sexual abuse or the way someone has been communicating with you online?

“Talk to your children about their online lives every two weeks, urges charity….Internet safety should be treated like road safety and caution with strangers as new figures show frequency of exposure to inappropriate content, says children’s charity.”

The Guardian June 2017

Be Share Aware: talk about what's OK, and not OK, to share online. NSPCC 2017